The invention is based on an apparatus for regulating the idling rpm of an internal combustion engine of the generic type described by the preamble to the main claim. An apparatus for regulating the idling rpm of an internal combustion engine is already known, but this apparatus has the disadvantage that if there is slightly increased pressure on the gas pedal, the regulation apparatus attempts to lower the increasing engine rpm once again by closing the bypass line. If while this situation prevails the gas pedal is then retracted once again, closing the throttle valve, then the intake tube pressure downstream of the throttle valve is rapidly reduced, and the engine will receive too little air to continue running. This can cause the engine to stop, because the reduced rpm is established only after a certain "dead time" has elapsed, and the correction in the regulation which is thereupon effected by means of opening the bypass line likewise takes effect only after a certain "dead time" has elapsed.